It has been a while since we have baked or cooked anything that we have shared on the blog and now that summer has officially arrived I thought it was time we got back to sharing some tasty treats! I thought that sharing one of our favourite picnic additions would be perfect to get us started on our summer recipes.

When we go on picnics throughout the summer we tend to take a few things with us that are very conventional such as sandwiches or wraps, cocktail sausages, yoghurt, buns or cake, water or juice and a few other bits we have made around the time we go. We do always try to also make our frozen fruit push pops that day before we go too. Filled with any kind of fruit or veg you like they are versatile and filled with nutrients. Plus they are very refreshing, making them the perfect addition to a picnic with children.

A few types of fruit (we are using kiwi, mango and peaches. Avoid fruits that cannot be frozen or left in a fridge for a few hours/ a day)

Making the fruit push pops is fairly simple and only take a few steps that you can get the kids involved with. The first step is to peel and cut all the fruit or veg you are using while trying to keep most of the actual fruit whole. I recommend you peal and cut film fruit before getting children involved but allowing children to cut up softer fruit with a butter knife like strawberries, kiwi, orange etc.. can be good practice, D didn't want to use his knife and was much more interested in trying out the fruit as I cut it all up. I find that pealing the mango and peaches before slicing them up in sections is the easiest way to get whole pieces out. I also cut the kiwi in half before pealing the skin away with the knife and slicing it up.

Inside our push pop kit there was a small circle cutter that cuts the fruit into circles that fit perfectly into the push pop holders. D is always very excited about getting to use the cutter to push down on all the fruit and cut them all into shape. During this part you can just let your kids improve their hand to eye co-ordination as they try to make sure they get a full circle of fruit.

Once you have all your fruit cut up into circular pieces you can just pop it all inside the push pop holders. We tried to use a pattern by alternating fruits but D wanted to have much more mango in his than kiwi and peach.

Here are our finished fruit push pops with their lids on. We also made another with watermelon and pineapple sticks that D had opened and then refused to eat them without putting them in the push pops device/ holder. You can use up all the other left over pieces of fruit in another push pop by dicing the fruit up and popping it all in one of the holders. To hold the fruit together you can add a few spoonfuls of melted chocolate (you can add the chocolate to the sliced fruit push pops too).

Usually when we are off out on a picnic I will wrap the push pops in cling film or pop into a plastic tub and put them in the freezer overnight and remove just as we are getting ready to leave. By the time we actually sit down to eat our frozen fruit push pops they have defrosted but are still cool and refreshing to eat. D didn't want to wait this time!

We all love having the frozen fruit push pops at our picnics and D enjoys being able to help prepare the picnic. Having the push pops also means we can get D to eat extra fruit that day as he will always want more than one.We have added the chocolate on one or two occasions but I prefer the plain fruit and D likes lifting the fruit out which he can't do with the chocolate covered version. These frozen fruit push pops make a great snack too for when you are out and about or staying at home.

Have you made anything delicious recently?

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